


Inevitable

by WampusRoar13



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Ariana Dumbledore Lives, F/M, Gen, Happy Ending, M/M, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-08-10 03:51:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20128894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WampusRoar13/pseuds/WampusRoar13
Summary: Albus Dumbledore finally sees his chance, after enduring years of blackmail, to get the family he destroyed put back together. He doesn't think that family will have a place for him. Can a certain Dark Lord track him down in time to get their happily ever after?





	Inevitable

Gellert should have realized that it was going to be a long day when he woke up to Vinda Rosier and Queenie Goldstein squealing and screaming at something in the morning paper and then running into his personal quarters at full speed. He deluded himself into thinking that his ruffled feathers were because of the vision he’d had during sleep. It was of Albus writing something and sending it off, although Gellert couldn’t tell what, and crying his eyes out, disheveled and distraught over something. 

He had not seen the other man so upset since the days the kids were taken. Or perhaps that day on the beach, when he thought he would lose his baby sister and no one else could have been to blame. 

So, by the time the girls jumped onto his bed, squealing and jumping like teenagers at a sleepover, the revolutionary had flung himself up and was already in the bathroom.

Vinda rolled her eyes, “You have never strayed once in your entire life.”

Queenie added, “We’re not doing anything wrong by coming in here and neither are you!”

He snorted, “I’d hate to have to take someone’s tongue out for accusing you two of impropriety.”

The dark haired woman smiled, while the blonde shook her head. Merlin, and everyone else, knew that the reigning rebel of the wizarding world was harder on himself than anyone else had ever been. Hopefully, today was going to be the beginning of a change in luck for their fearless leader and friend. Relaxing onto the bed, both women could say that they wanted Gellert Grindelwald to have everything that he wanted. Even as frustrating as most of Albus Dumbledore’s choices had been in the past and what they’d done to the blonde, the way their friend looked when he spoke of the redhead was the same way that Achilles must have looked when he spoke of Patroclus. 

“Why are the two of you suddenly so quiet?” Gellert demanded, as silence was not a characteristic he’d ever associate with the two witches. 

They shared a look. The bathroom door was shut preventing them from reading his reactions. Still, it was morbidly wrong to keep it from him, so they would have to divulge the information anyway. Queenie opened up her legilimency like Gellert taught her, just as a precaution, not invading, just enough to know if he got too upset.

“There was a letter sent to every reputable paper in the wizarding world,” Vinda started, “It talked about your political views, the real ones, not what the ministries of the world have liked to spread. It talked about your family, the family you were building before your twins were stolen from your mate’s womb and about the baby boy you had at his behest, after you both realized that he’d been cursed, only for that baby to be stolen as well.”

Queenie’s hand grabbed her wrist as a signal to stop, just as the lights began to flicker. Gellert’s magic was lashing out all around them, but never at them, both were certain, having managed to wind up somehow adopted by the supposed Dark Lord. They waited the wizard out, letting him marshall back control in his own time, knowing that the story was probably the hardest thing in the world to hear summed up so simply.

Suddenly the electric buzz of magic disappeared, ordered back under his control by sheer force of will, and the wizard appeared to lean in the doorway, “What else did it say?”

Vinda carefully moved to put the paper between them, but answered the question anyway, “It talked about how Britain’s Ministry began blackmailing him with the location of the kids, forcing Dumbledore to work against you. Finally, it shared that Theseus Scamander inherited the kids locations when he recently became Head Auror. Unable to lie to the boy who was raised as his brother, he revealed the kids locations and identities to both Albus and Newton.”

“Newt,” Queenie corrected.

“It says Newton.”

“He goes by Newt”

“Fine, Newt then.”

“Did Albus say where or who the other children were?”

“No,” Vinda admitted, “But it might be in this.”

Gellert stared at the letter like it might bite him for several seconds; there was a distinct smear uncommon of Albus that took him back to his vision from the night before. 

As he reached for it, someone else appeared at his bedroom door; a cute young woman with strawberry blonde hair jumped onto the bed with the two others, “Looks like Albie had all sorts of confessions in him yesterday.”

“What happened?” He demanded, already able to see that her presence was not a result of the paper alone. 

This morning was already shaping up to have a long day follow it.

Ariana shrugged, “Apparently he sent a letter to Abby, confirming that Albie was the only one throwing dark spells the day that I was hurt. He admitted you never would have risked the girl you’d just spent the summer creating a cure for, or that you almost killed yourself draining your magic to save from his stupidity;”

From the bed she made a quick grab for the letter in his hands, a devilish glare had her giving up quickly, “And you know all of this how?”

“Oh, Abby showed up here with the letter. He took one look at me, threw up on my new shoes, and passed out.”

He took note of her bare feet despite being fully dressed and couldn’t stop a chuckle from escaping him, “Did you at least call Pippin to move him to a bedroom?”

“Why should he get a bed?’ I loved those shoes! You brought me those from New York!”

Vinda laughed and got up, “I’ll take care of him.”

Once she’d left he moved to open the letter and Ariana was on him in an instant, “Did he figure out Credence is your youngest?”

“You’ll have to let me read if you want to know that,” He informed her with no real impatience. 

Albus had always been easily irritated by his younger siblings, but Gellert always hated being an only child. The summer he spent with Aberforth’s snark and Ariana’s insistent questions was still his favorite. When their sister had been hurt, it had never been a question of if he would save her, only the price he had to pay. Lying to Aberforth, letting him believe her dead had tormented Gellert, but after the twins were stolen, he’d have been damned to hell before the burglarious government of Britain got Ariana too. 

He took a deep breath and began reading.

‘Dearest Gellert,

I hope this letter gets to you before any of the others. Theseus Scamander could not live with the knowledge of what the previous administration was doing to his little brother and revealed the identities and locations of our children. As I’m sure you at least suspected by now, our youngest boy is, in fact, Credence Baredone. I hope that he is still with you following Paris. 

The twins were split up after they were born, but apparently have lucked into one another’s lives. Finding out that Newt is our son and knowing that I sent him into danger; I’m so sorry to both of you. I know that I can’t ever make this right with him; I understand if neither of you can forgive me. I wouldn’t.

I’m getting off topic. I could apologize for volumes and it would never be enough. Our daughter was sent to Russia and attended Durmstrang. She apparently takes after her daddy, as I met her several years ago when she became the youngest victor of the Triwizard tournament ever. She beat your record by a year at fourteen. Her name is Lorelai Volkov and from what I understand she’s quite a famous archeologist now. Apparently she and Newt like to see who can achieve the most convoluted of situations and bonded after crossing paths so many times on their adventures.

Newt took off from Hogwarts after Theseus told us. I don’t know where he would go now. Maybe Miss Goldstein or to get to his sister before anyone else, if he knows where she is; just please tell them that I love them so very much.

And I love you, you will always be the love of my life. I’m so sorry that all I ever brought into your life was pain and my own terrible choices. I would give anything to go back to our summer and rewrite the endless list of things I did wrong. I want more than anything for us to have had the chance to be a family with all of our kids, but I can’t blame any of you for not trusting me or forgiving me, after I worked against you for so long.

I love you,  
Albus

“Oh Morgana curse it all,” Gellert cursed, already tearing from the room in a fearful rage.

“What?” Ariana demanded, as she and Queenie rushed to follow him toward the small aparation room attached to his suite, “Is it the babies? Is Credence not yours? Who is my niece? Where are they?”

“Your brother is about to do something stupid,” Gellert told her.

“What else is new?” Ariana demanded, “What about the babies?”

“I’ve got to get Albus first, then we’ll track down the kids. Stay here, we’ll be right back.”

He was gone before either woman could think to object further. A slight tug and passage through a tube, and Gellert found himself standing in Godric’s Hollow. Albus had always been a sentimental bastard on the best of days and this is, without a doubt, where he’d run off to. 

His aunt had certainly read the paper and he made sure to duck away from her home’s line of sight; they could go by once Albus was safe from his own brilliant mind. Moving toward the old Dumbledore home, Gellert really wished the open gate was the result of some over reager reporter following Albus’ revelations. Unfortunately, Vinda and his aunt rose with the sun and most of the wizarding world remained unaware of what their morning paper held. The nostalgia was very demanding as he moved passed the walk and toward the back garden.

There was still a hole in the gate from Bumblebee, Aberforth’s favorite goat, attempting to run him off the first time he came to introduce himself to Albie’s siblings. Apparently the whole family was used to young men and women making a point to show up and flirt with Hogwarts’ star chaser for the mighty House of Gryffindor. Everyone else had been flabbergasted when Gellert revealed his interest in the older and bookish ginger of the trio, rather than Abby’s extroverted quidditch reputation, with only said brother knowing their shared history from the tournament.

As he moved into the backyard, he spotted the butterfly bush that he’d bought for Ariana. She’d once seen a butterfly and been mesmerized; Gellert had been courting Albus and needed very little reason to show off at every turn, so he summoned a kaleidoscope to surround her. It had been cute the first time, his mission accomplished, but then she’d started following them constantly demanding more, until he finally bought her the damn bush. And to think, almost thirty years later, she was still just as demanding, and he still couldn’t tell her no.

Turning the last corner, Gellert was relieved to see Albus sitting on a large stone, there were several surrounding the family’s garden pond. He wasn’t exactly trying to hide his presence or approach by any means, certainly not magical ones, but the blonde didn’t announce himself either. It was probably a good decision, given that having been silent was the only reason he remained so at the sight of two large cuts down Albus’ wrists, his blood draining rapidly into the pond. 

Gellert noted, ironically, that Albus had hung his jacket from a tree branch not five feet away. The redhead had his sleeves rolled up to prevent stains, and was leaning forward, elbows on the knees of his crossed legs, his hands carefully over the water. The lovable idiot was braiding snapdragons that were growing wild around the pond and its stonework into a flower crown, as if nothing of importance was taking place. 

Panicked though Gellert was, especially as Albus’ hands were starting to give minute shakes, the other wizard’s magic was still safely stable. When Gellert opened up his own magic and began healing him, it was hard not to think of how far gone Albus’ mind was that he didn’t noticed until the injuries were almost completely gone.

The moment that it struck him would have been adorable if Gellert wasn’t already so horrified. Albus had seemed to realize that he was no longer leaking, maybe one day Gellert would work up the nerve to ask if it was sight or sensation which tipped him off, but today was not that day. The red head rolled his wrists over to examine them. 

The genius watched for several seconds as they were magically stitched up, as if no injury had been inflicted upon them, with his eyebrows and nose scrunched like a rabbit. In his confusion, Albus couldn’t seem to put together how his magic was doing that without his consent. He registered the presence of the other genius as he opened up his own magic trying to figure out the puzzle. 

The professor shot up from the stone so fast, he almost fell back into the pond. Gellert wasn’t sure if he had low blood sugar, or wanted to keep distance between them, so after steadying Albus, he backed up again. Realizing the letter may have been written in the throws of guilt, especially if Albus thought he deserved this fate, then there was no way Gellert was going to try and force himself on the other man. 

“Albie,” Even in the depths of fear it sounded overly fond, “Why would you ever do that?”

“It would just be easier on everyone,” He admitted, “I don’t want to ruin their lives too.”

“You have not ruined anything! Dammit Albus, you were trying to keep them alive and find them. I told you I would have done the same if they’d tried to blackmail me,” Gellert reminded. He had always known that Albus was tormented by having to work against him, but perhaps he underestimated the toll it had been taking on his lover, “You finally have a chance to have your siblings and to have the kids!... Is it me or my cause?”

Albus stepped back as if the blonde had struck him, “What?”

“Is it me? I won’t drag you into anything you don’t want to be apart of? You don’t have to do this; I’ll leave you alone.”

“No, I love you! I want to be with you! I just didn’t think you would ever forgive me, much less trust anything I ever told you again.”

With that knowledge, he pulled Albus to him. The blonde was encouraged when, despite the blood loss, the redhead readily collapsed into the simple show of comfort, “You are all mine, Copper Top. There is nothing I couldn’t forgive you, especially for things you did while being blackmailed by your own government.”

He could feel Albus sink into his arms. Even relaxed, normally the man wouldn’t have put so much weight on him, but it was probably just his blood sugar. He would be fine with food and sleep; Gellert also never had a problem carrying him when the situation called for it. He could feel the blood pact, where it was clipped to Albus shirt; it was the one adornment he wanted close to his heart if he died. The seer would say once more, sentimental bastard.

“Oh gods, G. I’m so sorry. I just keep making things worse,” Albus cried, “I’m with you, I swear, I am. Please believe me!”

“Always.”

Gellert was relieved to see a small smile grace his features and a hint of color returned to his face, “Do you have them?”

“Soon but not yet,” Gellert explained, “I could tell by your letter that you weren’t thinking clearly in your state.and since no one knows who or where they are, you took priority.”

“Credence?”

“Still with me after Paris but he doesn’t usually wake up until around, or after ten. We can easily make it back to check on him, but he already knew we were his parents, so he should be fine.”

Gellert grabbed his hand and started moving to apparate once again. 

Apparently Albus was still tormented by his use of Newt to fight his lover, “Theseus told Newt and he just took off. We were so close and then I used him as a pawn against you! Gellert, he must feel so betrayed

His first instinct was to offer comfort, but in New York and Paris, he had put both of their sons in far more danger then Albus ever had. Luckily he had a couple of decades of spoiling Ariana rotten under his belt and could use that to help make up for the things that had happened. Pulling Albus close the blonde muttered, “Come on, the sooner we get all three to Nurmengard, the safer they will be.

With the redhead plastered against him, the wizards were able to leave Godric’s Hollow with hope in their hearts for once, gladly trading their humble beginnings for the safety of Gellert’s Austrian castle. Landing back in the same apparition room, he was not surprised to find that no one was there to greet them after the way he took off. He could already hear the giggles of Queenie from the living area beyond the door’s other side.

All three women were now sitting and awaiting their arrival. The other two were clearly attempting to cheer up a crying Ariana, where she was clutching at the letter that Gellert had left behind from the man next to him. Despite the damage done by the obscurial causing harm to her magic, Araiana was far from stupid. He was sure she’d figured out what Albus was going to do as soon as she read it.

Feeling terrible for having made his sister cry, the professor immediately stepped up so that she could see him. Ariana flung herself at his big brother, although yelling at him for being the world's worst at the job, but she exhauster herself after ten minutes. As the two were reunited, Gellert wandered over to sit with Queenie and Vinda on a sofa, not wanting to disrupt the pair of Dumbledores.

“Gellert, we’ve got to get ahead of this. There are letters here from every paper he sent the initial letter, asking for our side of the story. Theseus Scamander is here with full pardons for you; he’s already locked up five high ranking officials from the previous administration,” Vinda caught him up. 

“Huh,” Albus said, “He said he was going after at least ten people this morning.”

Albus and Ariana joined them. Pulling up a chair for his sister, Albus sat on the arm of the large sofa next to Gellert. He was pleased when the blonde leaned back and immediately hooked an arm around his waist.

“Vinda, you know all the details, work on a response letter. Let’s try to have it out by the evening edition,” Gellert started, “The other priority is finding the twins. Can one of you please warn Credence when he wakes up. Queenie, can you find out if your sister knows anything about Newt’s location?”

“Of course,” Queenie assured him, “She’s been expressing an interest in coming here and meeting you. Would that be possible?”

“Absolutely,” the blonde assured her, “I’ll go and talk to Auror Scamander. You need to eat and sleep.”

Albus snorted, “I am not leaving you! Or napping while everyone scrambles trying to track Newt. He’s not exactly the easiest person to pin down.”

“Very well, love, but the food is not optional. Pippin will bring you something to my office. I’m sure Auror Scamander will feel better with you there anyway.”

There hadn’t been much to see in the apparition room, and the living area was decorated tastefully, if a little bland. But, heading into the office that was right next to the entrance of the suite, which also had a second door leading to the public hallway, Albus felt his lover’s presence for the first time.

The large L shaped desk was organized neatly, with various divination objects scattered across it for both decoration and use, Albus was sure. The desk was made of a shiny silver metal and had intricately welded legs holding it up. Dream catchers and other handmade crafts hung from the ceiling. Gellert’s seat was a large high back chair that looked uncomfortable and rigid in all black, but which the redhead would lay money on being extremely comfortable. Across from Gellert’s chair were two shorter chairs, and he was sure both felt as rigid as they looked, to keep people on their toes. Built in bookshelves lined the walls, filled with books and knick knacks, while the corner directly across from the public door was dedicated to a small mahogany round table with three chairs, and a glorious crystal ball. 

Pippin, a paid house elf, did indeed come popping in with breakfast trays for both of them. The seer summoned a chair matching his own for his lover and they settled in for what was bound to be a long day of hard conversations. As soon as the trays were cleared, Queenie was bringing Theseus Scamander and her sister into the office.

“Auror Scamander, Auror Goldstein,” Gellert said, accepting the pardons that Theseus slid across the desk, checking them for any tricks with a swipe of his hand, “Welcome to Nurmengard.”

Theseus opened his mouth, but then paused with a small head tilt, “I have absolutely no idea what to call you.”

Tina snorted, “I just thought the same thing.”

The two older men laughed, “Let’s go with Gellert. I get the feeling that I'm going to be seeing the both of you fairly often.”

“Theseus,” The Head Auror told him then, shaking the blonde’s hand before sitting down.

“Tina,” the woman said, mimicking her friend and fiance’s brother.

“You both know Albus Dumbledore, I do believe,” Gellert made sure.

The previous Gryffindor, prefect, and head boy snorted, “We’ve met in passing.”

Tina smiled at that, “We met briefly after Paris, it’s nice to see you again.”

He nodded, “It’s nice to see you as well. Have you heard from him?”

She nodded, “He came to my apartment this morning from Lorelai’s. She had two jobs left that she wanted to finish before they started laying low, waiting for their identities to be revealed. They were going to go back to her treasure trove since it’s the most heavily guarded; that’s where all her artifacts are.”

“I’ve put the halt to anyone in my department talking,” Theseus assured, “But with everyone I’ve locked up I’m sure they’ll tell their solicitors just to keep making your lives difficult.”

“I am sure that Ms. Volkov’s warding is fantastic,” Gellert started, not wanting to offend his daughter before even meeting her. Grabbing a piece of paper and he scribbled directions on it, “But I would simply feel better if they were here, where there are plenty of others who wish to protect Newt and herself. Could you leave them this?”

Whatever he’d written , he stuck in an envelope, magically addressing it to the two of them, and then went to hand it to Tina at her assurance that they would get it, “That will allow them to apparate into my suite, just through that door. I’ve told them that they are welcome to bring anyone they wish to protect, as there is plenty of space, even for Newt’s creatures.”

“That would help,” Tina said, “Newt was worried about the safety of his house, for their sake. Especially with no one to help him.”

“What happened to Bunty?” Albus asked, surprised that the girl was no longer taking care of Newt’s creatures when he was away. 

“Found her trying to lace my brother with a love potion three months back,” Theseus told Albus, “They’ve since parted company.”

“I should say so,” Albus said, “Was Newt hurt?”

“He’ll be fine,” Theseus assured studying Grindelwald, “In fact the only person who’s been able to help him, with me taking over as Head Auror and Tina still in the states, has been Jacob. Would he be safe here as well?”

“There’s a reason they call you the Hard Charger,” Tina expressed with a smile, excited to have Theseus as a brother-in-law. The American hoped that both brothers knew this day shouldn’t end their relationship.

Albus snorted, “Isn’t that the truth? No wonder the Ministry didn’t bother to send a damn calvary with you and the pardons.”

Theseus shrugged, “They tried, I told them to choke on their tea. I’ve had to throw no less than seven people into jail for trying to destroy a family all because they were afraid to lose power, and there are more out there. I will not be trifled with today.”

“Just be careful, Theseus,” Albus told his favorite student. Most wouldn’t realize that he had only gotten close to Newt at the older boy’s behest, as the blonde struggled to find connections at Hogwarts, and the young auror grew concerned. Theseus was a grown man now, he had to admit, but he still needed to have a career after today, and Albus would probably never lose his protectiveness of one of his strongest and brightest students. 

“If I have to toss a hundred people in Azkaban to protect my brother, I will,” The Head Auror reminded him without hesitation, “The Ministry of Magic can take a bloody leap for all I care.”

“Huh,” Gellert finally jumped back into the conversation, his eyes studying Theseus like he’d just found something that he didn’t know he’d missed, “You and I, Theseus, are going to end up better friends then I realized. Jacob will be safe here. Will that cause any problems?”

Queenie had sat herself at the small table in one of its three chairs. Albus was embarrassed to say that he had forgotten her presence, “Of course not. I still love him, even if he doesn’t want to be together.”

“Oh sissy, he does,” Tina assured her, “He’s been looking for you everywhere. I think we all forget that Jacob doesn’t know anything about our world. Newt has been trying to help him find you.”

“He’s been searching for me?” Queenie was genuinely surprised by that, 

“I’m thrilled for you, Queenie,” Vinda offered from the doorway. 

Credence was following her, a copy of the newspaper clutched in his hand and sleep still in his eyes. 

“But the muggle might cause problems here, if the ministry decides to throw their weight around.”

“If they try to throw their weight around,” Gellert offered, “I fully intend to throw mine right back.”

“Anything they try should be through me, anyway,” Theseus clarified, “Public opinion has been out for their blood all morning. Other ministries are enraged at a government creating this kind of doubt about all governments, given the distrust being highlighted by the muggles for their politicians currently. I don’t think it’s going to get any better when Lorelai’s identity is revealed. She’s helped a whole lot of magical communities on the bridge of collapse by finding ancient artifacts worth a whole lot.”

Scamander was right, Gellert had to admit. This was extremely good news for his cause, if his daughter was agreeable to letting her allies merge with his own. He had thought of recruiting the famous Russian tomb raider years ago, but was grateful now to have waited. That Albus didn’t know enough about their daughter to actually believe her an archeologist was too cute for words.

Lorelai Volkov worked with every wizarding government that ever called on her, finding magical artifacts which had been lost to war, disaster, or even just time. According to her resume she’d found over ninety magical artifacts, returning them to the communities of their creation, despite their collective world being many millions of dollars, if not more. It all seemed very altruistic, but Gellert had long since thought that when she was invited into countries, the objects she was being paid to return weren’t her only collections. With Tina’s mention of a treasure trove, he considered himself to be correct.

“I think that is as far as we can go, for now,” Gellert told everyone, “And Albus and I need to have a word with Credence.”

“I need to drop this off for the troublesome two, anyway,” Tina said, getting ready to walk out.

“Newt said your were having trouble transferring to my department from MACUSA,” Theseus informed his future sister-in-law, and he’d be damned if she wasn’t going to be his sister-in-law.

“Picquery keeps pushing the date further back. We can’t even set a date for the wedding because of her, despicable witch!” Tina complained.

“Newt made reference to something like that this morning,” Theseus said, holding the door open for the two sisters and Vinda, “Swing by my office when you’re done. I’ll have it settled before you get there.”

“Are you serious?!”

“Pays to have the Hard Charger as a brother-in-law,” Queen told her with a giggle.

“Especially when he’s pissed,” Vinda suggested might have something to do with it.

Gellert hummed, getting Albus’ attention. Looking over he realized his lover was having some sort of vision, as he’d gotten distracted gazing into his crystal ball. Albus saw that Credence figured the same thing he did and he only rolled his eyes at the younger man, attempting to alleviate some tension. When he got a grin, the redhead turned back to Gellert, “Well, I hope it’s good news.”

Coming out of it the seer shrugged, “Just that it pays more to have him as a son-in-law.”

Without missing a beat, Credence snorted, “Well you better mean Lorelai, because I am not marrying Newt’s workaholic brother.”

Albus quickly realized that Credence had largely come out of his shell around Gellert and that made him happy. The boy kept giving the professor a look of ghostly recognition and he could only pray that the boy remembered something from their time together when he was a baby. While most magical children began developing memories around six months, Albus was unsure if either the trauma of being kidnapped or the obscurial could have caused the boy to forget him.

Gellert laughed, “Yes, I meant your sister. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, where are the twins?.”

“I don’t think anyone is sure, exactly, but hopefully they’ll be joining us soon,” Albus admitted as he found himself distracted from all his worries by his youngest son. 

Sick as it was, the twins had been stolen from his body and placed into a surrogate; there had never been a chance to even hold them. It had taken a couple of years of begging, but as the ministry had continued blackmailing him with the twins, Gellert had finally agreed to have a tribute child with someone else. His condition was that Albus had to stop the search for the twins and leave with him, so the blackmail would stop. He’d gotten to have the boy for almost eighteen months before a spy for the ministry found them and stole Credence too.

The boy lit up as Gellert started setting several letters to writing themselves and for such a simple act of magic to still delight the boy, that made Albus smile. Even the simplest magic trick used to delight the baby, who had been all but glued to Albus’ hip from the second Gellert brought him home. But, a past conversation with Newt reminded him that the boy had suffered greatly after he was taken from them. As Credence was distracted, Albus glanced into Gellert’s mind, and seeing what that monster had done to his baby’s hands, made the usual pacifist wish he could kill the bitch himself. Gellert didn ‘t stop talking but squeezed his hands in assurance that it had been handled, if not as well as it should have been.

Credence expressed interest in the letters Gellert was writing and the blonde seemed content to tell him about their family’s sudden rise to political intrigue. Albus supposed his lover was just going to ignore almost last three decades worth of work the seer had done to ensure their family could even survive this storm. Other than the ministry, who had been reduced to one Theseus Scamander to hear Gellert tell the story, all other delegates of magical communities interest in talking politics with him, had written to schedule meetings for the following morning. 

The ministers of Hungary and Romania were the only exceptions, the pair of lovers who had raised and unofficially adopted Gellert some time in his early teens, would be swinging by that afternoon. Albus was positive that his in-laws were livid at what had been done to their family, especially as they realized the true cause of Gellert and Albus’ separation, which had been hidden from them. They would be madder than disrespected hippogriffs and he wouldn’t want to trade places with Britain’s current political administration for anything. 

They had been talking for several hours, the little family enjoying lunch together, both parents refusing to worry about the extended family outside unless there was an emergency, needing that time with their youngest. Credence had just stumbled into what Albus did at Hogwarts and was hearing all about the founders so that he would understand the different houses when an awful shriek sounded outside. He hit his knees and attempted to cover his ears. 

Albus and Gellert both went to throwing up silencing charms around them. Once the noise was reduced, the seer went to pull his son back to his feet. 

“Thank you, what the hell was that?”

“If I had to guess,” Gellert told him, “Someone misplaced their own phoenix and he’s tracked them down to voice his vivid displeasure.”

Albus didn’t even have time to release the ‘bollocks’ on his tongue before Fawkes came barreling into the room through the open window behind Gellert’s desk. Upon spotting the professor, the bird charged his owner with rapid wing flaps and targeted vocals. All Albus could do was raise his arms and endure the assault, trying to explain what he could to the bird, “I know… I shouldn’t have left you… But in my defense… You know, you’re not the only one who’s had a long day… Oww, damn it all!... Oh, really, you’re going to have that attitude then?”

Everytime he said something Fawkes didn’t like the bird would whack him with his wings again. Finally, when tired of chastising him, the phoenix flew to the top of a bookcase, carefully putting his back to the oldest Dumbledore, blatantly refusing to look at him. Gellert’s shoulders were shaking as he attempted to not laugh at his lover, but he felt a kindred spirit with Fawkes as he considered what could have easily happened if he hadn’t found Albus in time.

“Oh, I remember you!” Credence exclaimed as he gazed at the phoenix, “Hello, pretty bird!”

Something in his voice must have told Fawkes who the young man was because he spun around and, after sizing up the young Dumbledore, flew down to use him as a perch, while nuzzling his face. 

Albus was frozen; nothing could make him forget how happy he’d been when Credence had said his first words. Fawkes had been obsessed with his owner’s baby and the boy had only been seven months old when he learned to shout ‘pretty bird’ to make the creature come soaring in. Seeing them together again made his chest swell in a way that he’d started to doubt would ever happen again when he turned forty and was still no closer to finding the children.

Suddenly Gellert and Fawkes tensed at the exact same moment, it made Albus nervous until the blonde shared with the class, “The twins are arriving into the apparition room in, I’d say, twenty minutes.”

Gellert noted happily that Credence was staring at Albus with a new light in his eyes, the phoenix having jogged his memory. He held the door for the two as Albus was explaining to his suddenly exuberant and curious son how he wound up with Fawkes during his childhood. There had been magical ways of showing the boy memories of his life with them before he was taken, but it was much better to let them come back naturally, especially if the poor thing had convinced himself it was all a dream after living with that woman. Force could often make, even real memories, feel ingenuine.

The two chatted as they returned to his suite, where they found Ariana, Aberforth, Queenie, and Vinda all sitting in the living area. Albus introduced his siblings to his son. Aberforth tried to have a breakdown over everything that had happened between he and Gellert, but the blonde simply hugged him and said that at least the family could now be together. Ariana clung to her nephew, arms locked around his middle, and no intention of moving. To be fair, Credence did not seem to mind in the slightest as everyone moved to the apparition room for the twins arrival.

The twins arrived in the middle of the room with two echoing pops, soaking wet, and coughing up mouthfuls of water. In one of Newt’s hands was his case and in the other was a niffler with black fur. He didn’t seem to be in any rush to drag himself off the floor, as he laid there with his face down. Beside him was his sister; in one hand she had an axe of some sort and in the other was a familiar muggle. Poor Jacob was still protecting a creamy white colored niffler within his suit jacket. Lorelai landed on her back and kept it to them as she sat up.

“I told you not to touch anything, you great Hufflefail,” Lorelai muttered, reaching for the light colored niffler, “Come here Gammosa, Mama’s here. Did Espresso come out okay?”

“He’ll live. I’m sorry I made you lose your ring,” Newt said still coughing up water, “I got distracted, there was a swooping evil stuck and I thought if could just get to the other ledge I could free it.”

“What was your excuse?” The girl asked Jacob.

“Same thing it always is,” Jacob told her, “He said, ‘Hey Jacob’ and like an idiot, I keep following him.”

The woman stood and looked down at her brother, who refused to face her for fear of seeing disappointment there. Lorelai nudged him with her foot and gestured for Espresso once her brother was looking, the creature quickly handed over a ring of some sort, “You didn’t cost me anything. Stop being a baby.”

Seeing relief flood the face of his son, who he actually knew better than anyone here, perhaps with the exception of Tina, it was easier for Albus to turn his attention to the wild card of the three children, who he had not seen since that Triwizard tournament years ago.. 

Lorelai was wearing black cargo pants, a black tank top, attached to her thighs were two muggle guns, and on her feet were a pair of combat boots. Her hair was blonde just like Gellert’s and, despite being trapped in a tight dutch braid, it fell a couple of inches below her backside. There were ancient runes tattooed from the top of her hand up to her shoulder in a single line; using legilimency to share information, the ones that he and Gellert combined recognized were for strength, courage, protection, healing, and humanity. It looked like she also had a moving tattoo on her back, as a flash of something aquamarine and amethyst kept appearing and disappearing from sight. On her wrist to her elbow on her right hand was a size scale tattoo of a wand; he assumed it was how she put the item away when it was not in use.

Gellert shot him a dirty look at the tattoos, like Albus had absolutely any influence on that choice at all. Plus, the deathly hallows symbol behind his ear, the elegantly drawn band of rainbow colored phoenixes around his left wrist, and the signature on his right bicep were all direct products of the Dark Lord himself doodling on the redhead that summer, Albus only having an artist make them permanent, so he did not want to hear it. If the German twat didn’t think it was appropriate for his precious little princess, he could say that to the girl himself; Albus just hoped he’d get advanced warning so he could make himself scarce. 

The next thing everyone seemed to realize was how built the woman actually was, as she moved to help her twin up. Physical magics were largely forgotten by Hogwarts’ current curriculum unfortunately, their only sport Quidditch, as it had largely been Gellert who got him into yoga and sambo over the years as he had more visions and understandings of both. Still, he could tell the girl attended Durmstrang like the Grindelwald family before her; Bathilda would be so thrilled. 

Newt clearly knew how strong she was, because he didn’t hesitate to put most of his weight on her to better swing himself up; of course, that was also when he noticed their audience, “Umm… Hello?”

This made Lorelai turn to see the assembly, “Hi?”

Gellert smiled at the twins, quickly hitting all three with a drying spell, as the twins hauled Jacob to his feet, “Welcome to Nurmengard, Jacob, Newt, Lorelai. Where did your adventures take you?”

The girl grinned mischievously, “Dwarf lands; my last job was to recover this for the Romulan tribe. It seemed pointless to leave it unfinished.”

“That’s the dwarf tribe native to Romania, yes?” Gellert asked, ready for the earful he was bound to get from his parents if she said yes.

“Yes, Minister Rusu likes me and asked for a favor.”

Albus couldn’t help it, a snort of laughter escaped him before he could control himself. His hand flew toward his mouth trying to cover it up, but it was too late.

Gellert turned to the redhead with a glare, “It’s not funny. Aurel is going to turn me into a pin cushion when he finds out how much we were hiding.”

“I thought you always said Titus had the greater flare for the dramatic?”

“You know Minister Balan too?” 

Gellert looked back to his daughter and couldn’t resist a sad smile at the question, “In another life, you probably would have been an adult before realizing that they were not actually your grandparents.”

Whatever her response would have been was forgotten as Fawkes realized that one of his favorite humans was present and not giving him attention. Newt laughed as the bird flew around him several times before letting the phoenix land on his arm. After getting what he felt was the correct amount of attention from the magizoologist, the bird turned his attention to Lorelai. 

She let the bird inspect her, Albus noted, but didn’t seem to want to hold him. This displeased Fawkes, who was used to people not being able to get enough of him, even Queenie and Vinda had fawned over the bird until the twins got there. Even Aberforth had to admit that he’d missed the immortal feather beak, while Ariana had squealed excitedly. The professor was starting to get afraid that Lorelai had some sort of phobia he hadn’t been aware of as the girl kept dodging the birds attempts to get closer.

When Fawkes went to jump from Newt’s shoulder to her, everyone in the room found out why she was hesitant in ferocious calamity. 

If Credence thought Fawkes’ angry vocalizations were bad, the blood curdling scream that shook the room then put everyone but Gellert and Lorelai on their knees. Luckily both started throwing up sound barriers left and right, fast enough that Albus was able to look up and see an auguery of sea green and purple come charging into the room. The subspecies of phoenix chased Fawkes back to Albus, as the professor tried to keep himself between the two birds. 

“Anastas!” Lorelai shouted and the results were instant. The auguery froze, clearly realizing that they were in trouble, broad wings coming up in an attempt to hide their face, “Have you lost your marbles? He was just saying hello you… you jealous, vicious little thing!”

“I told you to name him Banshee,” Newt offered, running to kneel next to Jacob, with only Queenie beating him there.

Gellert joined them, Albus coming up behind his partner, as the blonde started healing the damage done to the muggle’s ears, “We’re going to need to get you some protection from harmful magics!”

The professor glanced over to Newt’s best friend, as Gellert and the boy were helping him up, and Queenie was already back to fussing over the muggle. Jacob, when he realized the girl was there, had already dissolved into apologies and tears. While everyone else was focused on the two’s reunion, Albus put his head on the seer’s shoulder, “I’ll come up with something.”

The blonde grinned, turning to kiss the other man’s forehead. Gellert had seen Vinda slip away when the rest of them took off for the apparition room, so it was no great surprise when her head popped in with a brief, “They’re here.”

“Of course they are,” Gellert groaned, “With torches and pitchforks I’m sure.”

“No,” Vinda assured, already walking away, “Just your Tante Hiilda.”

“Oh gods, just kill me now,” the blonde ran a hand over his face and through his hair. Albus came up and squeezed his shoulder in comfort. Dealing with Bathidla was always hard, especially when she felt her precious baby, which Gellert certainly was, had been wronged in some way. Coupled with the fact that she was undoubtedly less than thrilled with her nephew, it was not going to be an easy conversation for the younger Grindelwald.

“Who?” Newt asked.

“His aunt,” Credence supplied, “She’s a little protective.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Ariana said, where she had just released the boy to faun over her niece, “Albie, look how cute she is!”

“She’s beautiful,” Albus conceded, staring at the girl in awe. She looked so much like Gellert that it was almost painful, but it was like his own eyes staring back at him when the girl looked up blue eyes twinkling. Gods, he could remember thinking it back when she was fourteen, how much the girl reminded him of Gellert Grindelwald. It couldn’t have been any more obvious if he was a bloody seer himself, how could he have missed it?

“Lore,” Newt said quickly, not looking up from the case where he was trying to get Espresso back in side, “You remember Professor Dumbledore.”

“I do,” She said, offering a small smile, “It’s nice to see you again, Professor.”

“Call me Albus,” He told her, turing to introduce his all but vibrating partner, “This is Gellert Grindelwald.”

“I heard that name everyday for seven years straight,” Lorelai admitted, taking the supposed legend and terrorist in. 

Albus quickly moved on to introduce Credence to his siblings. She seemed to already know Tina and Queenie. Finally he introduced her to Vinda, when Gellert didn’t move to do it. It was only then that he realized the two blondes were still gazing at one another and hadn’t moved since their introduction, even when Ariana grabbed her niece, although the girl returned the hug automatically.

The two stared at each other for the longest time, to the point that everyone was looking around at one another trying to figure out what they were doing. Albus knew what Gellert’s game was, but wasn’t sure about the other blonde, until his son looked up from his case. Not the most socially ept wizard, even Newt noticed when the chatter had stopped and rolled his eyes at what he looked up to, “Please stop trying to have visions of each other at the same time. It’s confusing for everyone else.”

Gellert grinned with that confirmation, “I suppose that means we can’t put your grandparents off any longer.”

Lorelai smiled, she’d never been around another seer before, and it was exciting. She let Newt put Gammosa into the case with Espresso, so that the two could check on their brood of adorable babies. Anastas was glued to her shoulder, just as Fawkes was to Albus, both birds locked in a similar gaze to what the seers had been moments before. 

The party began breaking up then. Queenie drug Jacob off to get him settled in her room, Vinda ran to wait for Thesesu and Tina to come back, so that someone could let them into the castle, and Aberforth talked Ariana into waiting in the suite, so that they didn’t crowd the office, after a look from his brother. The family, and they were all family now, after enough family secrets to send the kids running for the hills came tumbling out in one glorious morning... but trying to throw the Grindelwalds and Dumbledores at each other before everyone slept on the information, might not be the best idea. 

For the kids and Albus, there was no escape from the office, although it was made slightly less painful by the absolute wonder that Lorelai found the space to be. Gellert led them into the space with his daughter right behind him; her gasp made the kick in the pants he was about to receive seem less dreadful. She quickly took off to look out his window, taking a seat on the built in cushion there.

Credence was already lost in conversation with Newt about the pet phoenix he’d told Albus about Gellert giving him, as they followed up the pair of blondes in. The professor closed the door to the office behind them all. He hated not being able to help Credence with his phoenix, whose red, orange, and yellow feathers were falling out to come back black, white and silver, since Fawkes had been an adult when he found Albus, but he was relieved when Newt said that was normal behavior and that the creature was just female.

The boys took the two chairs in front of Gellert’s desk, quietly finishing their conversation as they took in the new people in the room. Two men, about seventy, sat facing them, the smaller of the two Newt recognized as Romanian Minister for Magic Aurel Rusu, who smiled at him warmly. The man was short, pudgy, and fair in every complex. The other was taller, with dark skin and hair as black as night, his eyes were lavender. Newt and Credence could only assume this was Titus Balan, Minister of Magic in Hungary. A woman around the same age had her back to them and was scary as Hel herself in her iciness.

“It’s actually quite common among birds to shed their baby colors, especially females. Female auguery’s are usually varied shades of brown, rather than derivatives of black and white. Being duller colors aids in protecting future nests. I have Stas’ brother, Patrick, and sister, Catherine, in the case. I’ll give you a copy of my chapter on magical birds. I have more on just phoenixes, but I’ll have to find it…”

Gellert hopped on his desk, letting Albus reclaim his previous chair, and took in the woman, carefully positioned in front of his crystal ball, “Tante…”

“Tante, who is that, it’s almost impossible to remember,” Bathilda Bagshot started right away. 

Gellert could see her grey hair pulled into a tight updo beneath her fur hat, still in pristine condition from all the way back during her own time at Durmstrang Institute. She was wearing a dark greek suit dress, and a pair of gloves that had been pulled on quickly, probably when the Ministers arrived in Godric’s Hollow, that had a distinctive make-up smear that screamed to her upset. He sighed, “Come, Tante Hilda, don’t be angry on a day where we should be celebrating!”

“Son, she’s been like this all day,” Aurel told him, “Don’t bother and make with the introductions.”

Slowly, Gellert went around and introduced all the children to their grandparents in an informal and familial capacity for the first time. Lorelai and Aurel quickly descended into conversation about the Romulan tribe, with Newt offering small tidbits based on his time there. Credence was happy to learn more about what both of his siblings did. He had heard so much about an older set of twins, stolen from his parents, that it was so weird to think he’d already met Newt before today. The Dark Lord watched as Titus joined their conversation, the more stoic of the two still excited to meet Gellert’s children.

Seeing his aunt not move from the table, unable to be tempted by her grandchildren, once removed, so to speak, he moved behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder, “Tante, there was no other…”

“There is always another way,” The woman turned on him, standing suddenly, a ferocity lighting her that made even him take half a step back, “Our kind may have to accept some things as inevitable, but only we choose the path we take there and that journey…”

“...Matters,” Gellert admitted, “Yes, I remember.”

Two two stared at each other for several minutes and Gellert considered her point, “If I had told you, where else would we have been today?’ It would not have brought them home sooner.”

“We would be in a world,” Bathilda informed her nephew, “Where I don’t have to worry about if you’re being honest with me. Were you or were you not in Godric’s Hollow this morning?”

“That wasn’t…”

“I saw you coming and waited for you!” Bathidla cried, ‘What were you possibly doing there that you wouldn’t come to my house?”

“That was my fault, Bathilda,” Albus said without even really thinking about it, rising from the chair to defend his lover.

“Oh please, don’t you start defending him, why would you have possibly gone back to Godric’s Hollow?” Bathilda demanded with a sarcastic chuckle, but then the silence of the room bared down suddenly like a ton of weight between the three of them, “What were you doing in Godric’s Hollow this morning, Albus?”

“It doesn’t…” Was all the blonde got out before he was silenced with a look.

“I don’t believe I asked you, Gellert,” Bathida reminded him coldly, very aware that Albus’ genius mind could be both a gift and a torment, especially when it got coupled with his need to perform grand gestures to prove himself. These boys liked to forget that she had been the one handling the fallout from Ariana’s injury in the small village. With Aberforth running off thinking she was dead and Albus blaming himself for both, before Gellert was able to tell the redhead that he’d saved her, the boy had been a basket case for several weeks. 

Carefully she crossed the room and circled the desk to face the almost fifty year old professor, who had been such a young thing sitting in her garden, his baby sister on her lap, as she welcomed their family to the neighborhood, “Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, what were you doing in Godric’s Hollow?”

She didn’t need to wait for an answer, she saw it in his eyes when he looked up at her, unable to admit to such a crisis in front of his children. A younger version of herself would have slapped him into his next life and called it assistance in his grand plan as she tore him a new one. Now the woman just held back tears and pulled him close, “Damn it, Albus. Just because it’s the moral of the story, doesn’t mean you have to go looking for it.”

He hugged her back and would never be more grateful that she didn’t reveal what had happened. Both she and Gellert always said that visions were just news, and emotional attachment to them was what a seer made of it, but he was grateful Bathilda hadn’t seen that. She’d already pulled him from such a brink once and he wasn’t sure that he could ever ask that of her again.

The woman was warmer after that exchange, something of her natural kind nature shining through, and the kids were able to quickly warm up to their Oma Hilda. The children gathered quickly around her at the small table, with the crystal ball, with the woman asking all sorts of questions of each of them, after Gellert got her a fourth chair.

Aurel and Titus took the two chairs before his desk, as Gellert sunk into his chair once again, and Albus all but collapsed into the window seat in relief.

“Now that your aunt has had her fill,” Titus said, standing from his seat, “I’ll start. Let’s look at the record, shall we?”

Gellert groaned as the man started pacing between his husband and the desk, “The record is so not good for us at the moment.”

“Tell me about it,” Titus muttered darkly.

Albus couldn’t help but smile as he gazed out the window, Titus ranting for the next half hour, as he looked at the mountains beyond the castle. There were gardens directly below them, although he couldn’t make out anything from here, the colors were beautiful though. A small lake existed just between two surging peaks and he wondered idoly if that area was warded as well, of if it was outside Gellert’s impenetrable protections.

Fawkes had retreated to a book shelf when Bathilda turned on him, quite frankly he didn’t blame the bird, the woman was terrifying. He and the auguery seemed to be tolerant of each other now, as Anastas joined him on high, the kids listening to stories of Bathilda’s seer abilities coming in, after skipping two generations, when she was a teenager. They all seemed curious to learn about how all seers were part siren, although not all sirens were seers, given that they all probably had some abilities they hadn’t realized were from the Grindelwald line.

About two hours later the Minister had tired of yelling at his son and the three politicians had gotten down to business officially. The kids were still learning about the Grindelwald’s siren heritage and Albus was watching as a small flock of owls came toward the castle with the evening post. 

The ministers had to take off quickly, multiple metaphorical fires to put out all though Hungary and Romania, as outraged citizens who weren’t before, were swearing themselves to Gellert’s cause after reading about the injustice to his family. Communities that were largely connected to Durmstrang were the worst, according to the two older men, giving complete backing to the blonde. The only thing Gellert asked of them was that they help shield Theseus Scamander from anything that they could; the two were hesitant but more accepting as the younger couple explained his brotherhood with Newt and the fact that both boys had largely been adopted and raised by Albus once they got to Hogwarts.

Something in the professor’s voice told Gellert that their was more to that claim, but he was trying to move the family out of his office and toward the dining room, so he filed it away for later. He grabbed Ariana and Aberforth from his suite, hoping that with his parents gone, and only Tante Hilda left, the kids could see their larger family interact without being overwhelmed. He had a relieved moment when a vision of Tina and Theseus being on their way back struck him, their escape finally coming around according to Newt’s finance, in twenty minutes. Vinda tried to skip the meal by joining Queenie and Jacob, which only led to the blonde pulling them and Vinda in with the rest of the family to wait for the last two. By the end of it, the gathering was as large and obnoxious as it would have been with his parents. 

So, inevitable chaos embraced, he sat down next to Albus to wait, talking to his aunt about Lorelai having inherited his seer and empathic abilities, as all the evening post swarmed the room to find whoever each creature was looking for. 

Since they were waiting, Credence went and got his familiar, looking cautiously to make sure that Fawkes and Anastas were not going to rush the poor thing, as she was just a baby. The two birds seemed fine, as they made friends by terrorizing the owls just trying to deliver letters, amid the high ceilings above everybody.

“What did you name her?” Newt asked, pulling out a potion to help her molt the old juvenile feathers, and aid in growing in her adult plumage.

“I didn’t even know if it was a boy or girl,” Credence admitted, “So I hadn’t.”

“Well a lovely girl she is,” Newt said, “Let me know what you decide. Lorelai did a ton of research on names meaning immortal, eternal, or something like it. If you decide to go that route, ask her.”

“Really,” the younger man turned to his sister, “How did you get Anastas?”

“I met Newt when I competed in the Triwizard tournament and we became fast friends,” Lorelai started.

“That’s the school competition with all the European schools, right?” Credence recalled that Bathida had mentioned their parents meeting when they competed against each other in the contest some years ago. 

“Right,” the girl confirmed before continuing, “I was on the last task and some idiot decided to put a basilisk in the lake at Beauxbatons. I managed to kill the thing with an anchor, although it took getting way too close to pierce it’s hide, and cost a fang through the thigh. I was horrified, because I knew the Hogwarts champion, who was a jerk...”

“Yes he was, I hated Morfin Gaunt,” Newt spoke up, leaving over he told Credence, “We all still claimed to be cheering for Hogwarts when he competed, but he was such as asshole that after he lost to Lorelai, every house showed up to throw a party for her victory.”

Albus snorted, “So did the staff.”

Everyone laughed, understanding this guy must have really been a jerk for all three schools to have teachers celebrating his defeat. 

“Anyway I knew that he was the only one left in the running, as I’d taken out the guy from Beauxbatons about half an hour before. Anyway, Newt had found three auguery eggs when we were exploring the local forest earlier that year…”

“Newt!” Albus scolded. The forests surrounding Beauxbatons were far worse than the dark forest and no one had been allowed anywhere near them.

“We survived,” Newt said, “Shouldn’t we all just be grateful?”

Gellert chuckled at that, earning himself a right glare from the professor.

“...According to Newt, one of the eggs exploded in his trunk right when I was hurt and Anastas came soaring onto the lake of the shore to heal me, the tiniest cutest thing you’ve ever seen,” She finished.

A polite knock sounded as everyone was tearing into their mail, causing the group to start looking around for the source. The magizoologist realized that it was coming from his case, after several minutes, and quickly opened it to let Gammosa out, so that she could get to her mother. Following her out were Pistachio, Persimmon, Pumpkin, and Pumpernickel, with Espresso bringing up the rear. Queenie went to squealing at the babies, who immediately ran to her to try and steal her jewelry.

Gellert quickly barricaded the door to the dining room to prevent escape from the inside, remembering the sort of trouble the creatures were capable of. Albus grabbed his other hand and smiled at him, probably having heard the story of New York from Newt many times. The two stayed that way, just watching their kids and listening to the story of Newt and Lorelai saving both Gammosa and Espresso from a poacher in South America.

“Well bolt everything to the floors, nothing’s safe,” Theseus Scamander’s voice was excited like a puppy upon his return.

“Oh common Scamander,” Lorelai said, where Pumpkin and Pistachio were sitting on her head, leaving their other siblings to Queenie, who was next to her. The ginger niffler sat happily on her cranium and her sibling swinging from her braid, “It’s only a couple of nifflers!”

“And what, Madam Tomb Raider,” Theseus demanded, leaning on the table next to her, “Made you think I was talking about them?”

“Oh, the two of you know each other?” Gellert asked without missing a beat.

The blonde woman laughed, standing to embrace the Head Auror. As they were embracing Newt made a gagging noise and rolled his eyes, looking directly at Albus for sympathy, not even realizing he’d done it until their eyes met.

Albus had watched the Scamander heir come in with a small smile, but upon seeing that Gellert looked like a cat who got the canary upon the kids’ exchange, he rolled his eyes. It was always irritating when the blonde got his way too easily, especially when he didn’t even have to do anything. He just wasn’t expecting to meet Newt’s eyes, as the younger man mimicked the professor’s own gesture.

Newt jumped a little, surprised by their synchronicity. They had done that a million times before over various little things that both found irritating. But, now the action seemed to have an entirely different connotation and he wasn’t sure how to react to it. The older man smiled at him and looked away, quickly letting the magizoologist process in his own time. Newt was more than grateful; he hadn’t really stopped since he went to find Lorelai, not wanting her to be caught in the dark.

Lorelai had never wanted to know anything about her parents that gave her up for adoption. She had never tried to have visions of them, nor had she tried to find their identities since she turned seventeen. It wasn’t resentment, the girl just took care of everyone she considered family and always thought that if someone was willing to give her up, that was permission not to concern herself with them. Today had changed that perception wildly.

“We met when I competed in the tournament,” Lorelai explained to the other seer, “Theseus used to meet up with Newt in Hogsmeade.”

“How adorable,” Gellert offered looking over the evening edition of the paper, “Well, your identities have been revealed.”

“Outrage might not be colorful enough to express the public’s reaction,” Tina told them from the seat she’d taken next to Newt, “But Theseus got me transferred to his department.”

“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you,” Newt said, as his big brother dropped into the seat on his other side, across the table from Lorelai, “You’re the best big brother in the whole world.”

Theseus snorted but the smile on his face couldn’t have been more fond, “Only when you get your way, I see.”

All the owls began flying away, once their letters were delivered. Tina had her official welcome from the ministry waiting on her, Theseus had letters from several reporters asking for information on Newt, along with a couple of letters from what looked to be the Hungarian and Romanian ministries he didn’t look too sure about, and even Lorelai had a letter but it only made her sigh.

“What’s the matter, sweetie?” Albus asked.

“Nothing,” Lorelai dismissed, already tearing the letter to shreds without opening it, “Just an idiot who can’t take a hint.”

“He’s still bothering you?” Newt demanded, “You ended things before Paris.”

“Who are you telling?” The blonde groaned, “You’d think for an auror he’d handle rejection better.”

“Especially working for my brother,” the magizoologist muttered, most not listening as everyone congratulated Tina.

Gellert, Theseus, and Albus weren’t most and shared a look to discuss it later.

Everyone tucked into their meals quickly, but Albus caught the torn letter pieces rising from the trashcan Lorelai had tossed them in on the other side of the room, and they disappeared around the corner. He had no doubt that they would be sitting on Gellert’s desk when they got back. 

Lorelai and Theseus flirted ridiculously throughout the meal, the Head Auror more than happy to tell Credence all the stories he knew about the boy’s siblings, especially the ones neither of them would have wanted told. The American sisters and muggle enjoyed hearing the stories about Newt before they knew him. Everyone laughed more than any of them had in such a long time. Albus was a little surprised given the recent death of Theseus’ fiance, at Gellert’s hand at that, but said nothing until he could ask Newt.

Bathilda was just ecstatic to see her nephew and Albus together again and happy. The two had been apart for so long and it shouldn’t have ever happened. She understood Albus going back to the ministry and their blackmail after they lost Credence too, honestly, she did. It had probably been a tame consequence given what had happened earlier that morning and after he thought Ariana dead at his hand. That hope was probably all that kept the professor going. But, she had watched Gellert grow more and more cold over the years without his partner to warm him. His detachment had all but consumed him, it probably would have if he hadn’t stumbled into pseudo-adopting Vinda and Queenie, but the older Grindelwald by birth still wasn’t sure how much longer the girls would have been enough.

They were finishing eating, everyone lost in different conversations, when Credence asked his sister quietly, “What if I named her Anastasia, that way we’d have matching pets? Like you and Newt?”

“That would be adorable!” Lorelai told him, leaning over to pop a kiss on his cheek, “You would be the prettiest Anastasia in the world, wouldn’t you?”

The small phoenix chick squawked and flew, wobbling a little as she was still molting, to land on the woman’s lap. Anastas gave a small call from the perches Albus summoned once the owl entertainment was gone, but his mother was on him in an instant, “Don’t even think about it bird brain, I’m watching you. If I were Fawkes, I wouldn’t have forgiven you!”

“I wouldn’t consider that either, if I were you,” Gellert said suddenly drawing everyone’s attention. 

Albus looked down and saw that the niffler called Persimmon had found their way on his chair and was attempting to nab the man’s ornate pocket watch. The little one quickly disappeared back to Newt, who put him in the case, along with collecting his siblings. Pumpkin, who had taken a liking to Albus as a fellow ginger, was the last to be handed over as everyone got ready to leave and separate for the night. 

Vinda took Lorela to find a room for the girl, while Queenie took her sister to do the same. Newt stayed, perfectly content to let his fiance pick and join her later. He let Jacob and Credence into the case, the boy exuberant to meet Stas’ brother and sister. Aberforth decided to take his chance to get to know Credence more and followed them down, while Ariana took off to help her niece decorate whatever room she picked out.

Newt was going to join them in the case, knowing tomorrow would be a big day as his… Grindelwald had shown him a room where he could get all his creatures out of the now cramped case and into the bigger space. Still he sat back down to finish a last minute edit before sending it off to his editor. He was supposed to have it in that morning but given the news, he thought the charming older witch wouldn’t mind.

When he felt an arm drape over the back of his chair and a strong hand come up to lightly squeeze the back of his neck, he started talking, it was a trained reflex, “His name is Margo Burns, they dated for three months, and Lorelai’s been trying to end it for seven. She’s tried being direct, she’s tried filing an official cease of contact with the Russian ministry, and just plain ignoring him. The wizard will not take a hint and, yes, he’s threatened her; it’s beyond getting out of hand. 

“Remind me not to ever give him classified information,” Gellert told Albus, making the magizoologist go red in his embarrassment, having forgotten who all was present.

Albus laughed, “He’s actually extremely steadfast, as long as it’s not Theseus doing the interrogation.

Another light squeeze and Theseus offered, “Thank you for the information Newt; you’d better go check on Jacob and Credence.”

Newt escaped quickly into the case then, wanting no knowledge of where the conversation was about to go. 

“What do you know about this Auror Burns?” Bathilda was the one to ask, as the party moved back to Gellert’s office.

“He doesn’t work directly under me,” Theseus clarified, “But his supervisor has struggled with near constant complaints about his less than professional attitude with other aurors. I’m wondering if boundaries are a bigger problem then she realized.”

Albus seemed to have more pressing interests then this Auror Burns, “You and Lorelai seem close. Especially given Leta Lestrange’s recent death.”

Theseus rolled his eyes, “We were never actually together; the family was under investigation and I went undercover to gain information on the Lestranges. Newt was helping me prior to Paris.”

The professor was a little irked that neither of the boys had told him about this, but decided to let it go. Newt was stressed out enough without making him think that Albus was mad at him too.

“Huh,” Gellert thought about that revelation, as he waved the elder wand across the pieces scattered around his desk, the letter then coming back together with the envelope sealed, as if it had never been torn, “Will you be able to handle Auror Burns? Or would it be more advantageous for me to do so?”

“If he broke a cease of contact order, I can easily have him removed from his position,” Theseus had to admit though, “That is where my capabilities cease.”

“Mine don’t,” Gellert assured, handing over the letter as evidence, “Just let me know when he’s been removed. I can take it from there.”

Albus knew that the contents didn’t really matter, since the situation was going to get handled. But he made a mental not to ask Lorelai about the experience. No matter how strong she was being threatened by someone that was once an intimate relationship was terrifying. If she didn’t know about the men handling it, the woman could still be afraid and he wouldn’t have that for his daughter. 

“Done,” Theseus assured, “He’ll be out by tomorrow.”

“Will you be staying here with us?” Gellert asked him.

“No, one of us is going to have to face my parents,” Theseus admitted, rising from his chair, “And it sure as Hel is great isn’t going to be Newt.”

“Be careful, Theseus,” Albus said, standing as well and grabbing the younger man, “I know you’ve grown up but…”

He trailed off and Theseus quickly returned his surrogate father’s embrace. The man had stitched him up for many years his first night after returning to Hogwarts after a summer of taking beatings for his baby brother. There was doubt about just how much his parents had known, their house becoming sealed by lunch and no one able to question them. Since they could not keep their own blood out, he was going to either get answers or bring them in, which ever it took.

“I’m not thirteen anymore,” He assured the man, thinking back to the worst it ever got in the Scamander house, then letting go of Albus, “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Gellert let the young man use the apparition room in his suite and returned back to his lover in askance. Instead what he found was Albus, looking up to the phoenix on his bookshelf, and ordering the bird, “Follow him.”

Fawkes took off out the window immediately with a pleasant call.

Seeing both Grindelwalds’ raised eyebrows he started explaining, “Newt and Theseus didn’t exactly have it great. Lord Scamander wasn’t all that bad, mostly forgetting he had a family and always traveling for work. But the mother was a real piece of work; hounded them until it was a miracle that they both weren’t insane and would punish them severely for the smallest thing going wrong. Theseus is ten years older; he covered for Newt when the boy was younger all the time, but he didn’t breathe easy until Newt got to Hogwarts”

Albus moved to fiddle with a random piece of divination equipment, showing it to Gellert. When the seer gestured that it was just a knick knack, he transfigured it into a ring, beginning his project for Jacob, “Theseus learned to play the game of survival pretty well when he was young, but there was always a different tone with Newt. He was socially awkward and Theseus took more beatings for that boy then I could count; he came back to Hogwarts every year needing to be put back together. I don’t want him going back there, but it’s for work, he won’t listen.”

“I should have pushed him to come back here,” Gellert admitted. He hadn’t suspected that the Scamanders grew up in a similar situation to Credence, or he would have.

“He’s stubborn, it wouldn’t have mattered.”

“He didn’t earn that Head Auror position by being a pushover,” Bathilda reminded them, “Plus Fawkes is trailing him now. Everything will be fine.”

“I hope you’re right,” Albus told her. 

“What now?” She asked the two as Gellert flipped through the seemingly endless letters from politicians around the magical world.

“Tonight, sleep,” Gellert told her, “Tomorrow, political take over.”

She smiled seeing the two getting lost in their projects made her lighter than she’d felt in years, “Have fun with your world domination. You’ll notify me as soon as this Burns situation has been handled?”

“Yes, Tante,” Gellert told her automatically, still reading through the letters.

She kissed them both on the forehead and showed herself out, personally doubting that either would sleep as they found something more interesting and challenging to do. Tracking down the children to say goodbye was far easier than she’d expected. Tina and Lorelai had taken residency in two of the five bedrooms within Credence’s suite which was right next to Gellert’s, effectively joining he and Queenie in the space. Newt’s fiance had retrieved the case and brought it into the living area, while everyone was decorating. She kissed her granddaughter goodnight, then her grandsons after Tina pulled them from Newt’s current workspace, before returning home for the night,

Vinda, Aberforth, and Ariana all left to get ready for bed and collapse for the night. With the creatures settled and fed, the inhabitants of the suite settled in to talk about the day that had preceded them, changed into pajamas and ready for a chance to breathe. 

“This has been the strangest day,” Lorelai told her best friend, now twin brother, as Queenie mixed drinks in the kitchen with Tina, “I swear it was just another day, then you showed up.”

Jacob laughed around his cigar, “Happens to me all the time.”

“I keep thinking I”m going to wake up and the last two years will have been a dream,” Credence admitted shily, where he was stretched out on one of the couches.

“I thought that for years after I got my letter at the orphanage,” Lorelai told him. She was sitting in the window seat with her drink, in a purple nightshirt and shorts, painting her nails to match the pajama set, and her hair released to fall in curly tendrils all the way down to the cushion.

“Does it ever go away?”

“Eventually you realize you’d never be crazy enough to make this world up,” She admitted, “Mostly when you get surrounded by others who are that stupid.”

“I didn’t even make it to the second part,” Jacob told them laughing, “I got in the case and realized I was not that creative.”

“Professor Dumbledore is my parent,” Newt said, “I can’t get the chant out of my head. It’s surreal and I grew up in the magical world.”

“Wasn’t he already pretty much your parent though?” Queenie asked, genuinely curious. She’d heard so much about the man from Newt that she was surprised he was even hung up on the new information. Honestly, when she’d first read the paper that morning, it had seemed obvious that Newt would be the one ready to accept the information. 

“Yes, but now it’s weird!” Newt told her, where he was curled up on a loveseat with Tina, after she finished passing out drinks. He looked over at the other two, “What do you think we would have called them if we hadn’t been stolen?”

“Of all my questions, that hasn’t been one of them,” Credence told him, “Huh, do you two even know your birthday?”

“Umm… I was always told that my birthday was February 24th of ‘97,” Newt offered, “Lore?”

“They had to guestimate at the orphanage anyway,” she told them, “But I was damn near a newborn when dropped off and they said it was August of ‘97.”

“So no, not a clue,” Newt told Credence, “Maybe a year though. If we’re lucky.”

“I wonder if Theseus could find out during the investigation?” Lorelai pondered.

“I think if you asked Theseus for anything he’d say ‘Yes, dear’ and start snooping,” the magizoologist informed her.

“He just lost his fiance,” the girl scolded him, “You stop that.”

“No he didn’t!” Newt told her without a second thought, the Americans already knew anyway, “He went undercover for the ministry to investigate the Lestranges. He’s probably beating up Margo Burns in a back alley as we speak.”

Everyone laughed and they chatted for several more hours. Credence, Queenie, and Jacob eventually got ready to sleep and excused themselves for the night. Tina was reading through Newt’s manuscript, making edits, so the Hufflepuff decided to go and sit with Lorelai in the window seat, where she was staring at the full moon quietly.

“You took all of this remarkably well,” He told her.

“I always knew that I was adopted, it was just a matter of revealing who and how I came to be there,” She looked over at him, “Not an identity crisis like you must be having.”

“I shouldn’t be.”

“Why ever not?”

“The Scamanders were not exactly great parents. I just… I keep thinking I’m not a Scamander, I should be relieved, but then…”

She tilted her head in his direction, “Theseus?”

“Admitting it feels like admitting he’s not my brother and I just can’t do it.”

She pulled the crying man into her, holding him close, “Oh Newt, you’re so wrong. Theseus loves you and would do anything for you; he is your big brother. Nothing that has been revealed today has changed that for him and it won’t! I promise.”

The twins stayed there together, just relaxing and taking comfort in being together. They didn’t need to get into conversations of family or twinship; they had been best friends this morning and so they could remain. Any talk about family not here with them would just have to wait until the bright light of dawn.

Both were gazing at the window, when they spotted something large flying toward the castle. Sharing a look before returning to trying to figure out what it was, a curious Tina joined them and realized that there were actually two somethings the closer they got. Once in human sight range, they realized that it was both Fawkes and Anastas, who had disappeared, Lorelai thought to explore, some time after dinner.

“Looks like they’re heading for Grindelwald’s Office,” Newt told them, “Come on!”

The trio tore from the suite and back down the halls until they reached the Dark Lord’s office. The room was in chaos, with two individuals unconscious and dumped in a corner, while Anastas took a defensive stance on a low shelf to keep an eye on them; it took Newt a moment longer than it should have to realize that it was the Scamanders. Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald were leaning over a third person, as they attempted to help Fawkes in healing the many injuries present. There were large gashes all over his body, more than both phoenixes could have cried into in time to save him.

“Theseus!” Newt screamed.

Albus stood and grabbed the young man before he could get to his brother. Lorelai and Tina rushed around him to aid Gellert, but he knew Newt couldn’t help with this, he was obviously in no mind set, already sobbing. The professor held him tighter when he felt the magizoologist arms come around him distraught, “He’s going to be okay, Newt. He is, I promise.”

Seeing Albus up and aware of the two unconscious purebloods in the corner, Anastas jumped down to help the humans as Fawkes’ tear ducts ran dry. Albus kept an eye on the pair, but whatever one good shot Theseus had gotten off after being attacked, it seemed to have done the job well. He sat on the ground with Newt pulled close, knowing the boy wasn’t going to leave until the Head Auror was safe, no matter what his mentor tried.

It took half an hour, but through the combined effort of two phoenixes, two witches, and a wizard, and a half if you included Albus’ work before Newt got there, Theseus was healed up. Once he was safe, Gellert stood and summoned Vinda from her room, feeling terrible for having to do so, but also knowing he couldn’t get the two to a cell until morning after all the magic he’d just spent. The woman walked in quickly, her robe hastily thrown on, and a horrified gasp immediately escaped her, as her hand flew to her mouth, upon seeing the Scamander heir still in a pool of his own blood.

Gellert raised a hand to try and calm her, “He’s fine. I just need them moved to a cell; don’t let them know where they are. Theseus will still need to take them into Azkaban in the morning.”

Vinda quickly complied, as Albus passed a still shaking Newt to Tina and began cleaning up, knowing the other two had no energy left. Vinda promised to come back and get Theseus to a room, but Newt told her he’d take his brother to their suite. Once Newt was calm enough they let him and Tina take Theseus down the hall and Gellert collapsed into his desk chair, while Lorelai made it as far as the window seat. She lay on her back with her legs extended up the wall next to the window, and gazed into the many dream catchers that were carefully positioned above the seat.

Albus smiled at the action, knowing from the window at Bathilda’s house in Godric’s Hollow just like it, that they were put there for such a purpose. He had seen Gellert just the same way in that window seat during their summer and could almost picture the same blonde where their daughter now was. But, said Dark Lord was sitting at his desk, head in his hands, muttering something in German; it had been so long that Albus almost missed what was being said. 

“G!” He demanded his lover’s attention and it was given readily, “I didn’t follow him; I didn’t even think it would go this wrong. You certainly should not have known!”

“I thought it though!” Gellert said, “I was thinking I should send someone just in case and I didn’t.”

“They couldn’t have gotten in anyway,” Lorelai told him, “It wouldn’t have made any difference.”

Gellert turned, ready to say that she couldn’t know that, when he saw the glazed look in her eyes and thought better of it, “What do you see?”

“The ministry was the one to put the idea in his head; they had been trying to bring his parents in for questioning all day, but their house had blood wards so the other aurors couldn’t…”

“I’m shocked,” Albus cursed internally, wanting nothing more than to burn the current ministry to the ground. He wondered if that was something Gellert could make happen?

“...He thought he might as well go tonight, because he’d have to go alone anyway. He got in but that was it; his parents were waiting and weren’t going to be brought in. They were some of the main players in the kidnappings; Lord Scamander worked for the ministry and his wife’s only instruction was a keep Newt unhappy…”

“Oh if the Ministry didn’t already know Theseus was going after them…” Gellert muttered darkly, but Albus knew what he was thinking and readily agreed.

“... He got there and the fight started. Fawkes and Anastas got there, the wards couldn’t stop them, so he knew he had some backup. He held his own for over an hour, but then his mother got a lucky shot in with some sort of severing curse. But, they got lazy thinking Theseus was down and he knocked them unconscious; they won’t wake up until Theseus does it.”

“Nice to know,” Gellert admitted, gazing at his daughter. Her hair trailed off to the side, falling in white blonde curls off the cushion all the way down to dust the floor with its tips, “Your hair is so long, it’s beautiful.”

“Thanks,” Lorelai told him, “But it’s trying; I think about cutting it twenty times a day.”

“Oh don’t!” Albus told her, “Your father already jumped ship and it’s so lovely.”

“Excuse me, but you cut your hair too, Copper Top.”

Lorelai giggled and turned her head to take in the two together. Dumbledore was sitting on the desk next to his… “Are you two married?”

Albus tried to look over at Gellert but was met with a blatant, “You explain it to her.”

So he pulled the blood pact from his pocket, “We made this when we were teenagers; promising to always love each other and vowing that there would never be any other. But we never had a ceremony or officially tied hands, things got… complicated.”

“Huh, I was expecting that to take longer,” Gellert admitted.

“But you met during the Triwizard tournament in ‘99, yes?”

“Yes,” Gellert confirmed, “We competed against each other. He wanted to hate me but found my charms irresistible.”

The professor snorted, “If you’re going to lie to her, make it something believable. Fifteen year old up start, I should have sided with Beauxbatons and crushed you.”

“Oh please, you forfeited of your own volition, deal with it,” Gellert reminded him. 

And fair, Albus had willingly let Gellert take the cup as a sign of affection, the German charming him after a year to grow on him like a fungus. He’d always been well aware of his hallow, so he smiled at their daughter, “We made a right sensation taking each other to the Yule Ball; your uncle thought it was hilarious.”

“Why are you known for being the youngest before me to compete, I thought you were older?” Lorelai asked Gellert.

“Why does everyone think you’re older? I’ve got two years on you!”

“And you can have them both,” Gellert told him without thinking, but it earned him a death glare, even as Lorelai busted out laughing. 

Both parents forgot the discussion when the girl grabbed her head as if it hurt, “I’m fine, just a migraine. It’s been a long day.”

Gellert summoned a potion for head pain from his cabinet and handed it to her, “You need to sleep, it’ll help. We’ll all talk more tomorrow.”

She hugged both of them before disappearing around the corner for the night. Albus hadn’t wanted to let go, but also didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. When he turned from watching her go, it was to find Gellert already reading through more of the letters he’d received that day. 

Seers often struggled with insomnia, he knew this, but he got the sense that there was more to it at the moment. The blonde came willingly enough when Albus pulled him toward the window seat, their legs twisted together, as the supposed Dark Lord cuddled into his chest, “G, you’ve got to go to sleep eventually.”

“Sirens have the most vivid dreams,” Gellert confessed, “What if that’s all this is. You being here, them safe, what if…”

“Hey, stop. Me being with you is inevitable,” Albus reminded him, “And so is us finding them, it was always a matter of time.”

“I just want to protect all of them.”

“Death is inevitable as the two of us, G” Albus reminded him, “That’s the point of the story. Doesn’t mean you won’t get to have your dream son-in-law and I can’t fix this mess with Newt first.”

“You know I wouldn’t push for them if she wouldn’t be…”

“Happy? Yes, I’m well aware. I didn’t realize how small she was until just now; she looked much tougher all geared up earlier.”

“I think that was the point,” Gellert informed him, “Newt seemed to cling to you pretty quickly.”

“Well, yeah, he was hysterical. It was a reflex.”

“You’ll end up closer than ever,” The Dark Lord assured him, “Don’t worry so much.”

“You think?” Albus asked, still concerned.

“I love you,” Gellert told him smiling at his lovable worry wort, stealing a deep kiss for the first time in far too long, “Let’s go to bed.”


End file.
